Collaborative Nursing Placement Development

Brief

This case study will outline how simulated placements have been used in response to the recommendation from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to provide third-year adult and paediatric nursing students with additional placement hours. SimComm Academy and a local university collaborated to design and deliver a two-day simulated placement focussing on 16–18-year-old patients with chronic illness and mental health concerns. The study examines the impact of the simulated placement on nursing students’ self-rated knowledge and competence on a range of pre-set learning outcomes.

Problem

Communicating with young people from aged 16 to 18, transitioning between childhood and adulthood can be challenging and is often associated with uncertainty surrounding how to pitch language and communication. When managing young patients and their families with complex chronic illnesses and mental health issues, this can add an extra layer of complexity. The simulated placement needed to include discussions surrounding avoiding stigmatising behaviours and language.

The Requirement

The university partnered with SimComm Academy to develop a simulated placement, required to provide adult and paediatric nursing students with the opportunity to learn and put into practice communication skills when managing young people facing chronic physical health diagnoses and mental health difficulties.

The Outcome

The simulated placement was designed and developed to utilise a range of experiential learning techniques, including fishbowl simulation, forum theatre and monologues. Scenarios were based upon the following conditions and themes:

Day 1:

• Exploring patients’ lifestyles and lifestyle changes
• Approaching patients and their families in a holistic manner, using a range of scenarios based on cystic fibrosis and ADHD
• Empathetic communication and active listening
• Understanding self-harm and exploring the underlying issues

Day 2:

• Exploring patients’ eating habits and symptoms of eating disorders
• Carer burden and offering carer support
• Exploring the challenges faced by patients with chronic pain

Participants engaged in the scenarios which were followed by facilitated debriefs which allowed for feedback and discussions surrounding the scenarios, participant and observer reflection, and exploration of the learning outcomes.

Tangible Results

Analysis of the evaluations demonstrate a clear shift in knowledge from before the workshop to after the workshop. This is shown in figure 1; before the workshop 46% of the participants expressed either limited, neutral, or no knowledge on the topics covered whereas following the workshop 99% of the participants expressed excellent or good knowledge.

Figure 1: Before and after breakdown of participants responses

A comprehensive breakdown of participants’ self-assessed learning outcomes before and after the workshop is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Full breakdown of participants’ responses

The evaluation also encourages the participants to note any qualitative comments they had on the workshop. The participants particularly enjoyed the simulations and appreciated the different perspectives that these exposed for further discussion and reflection (figure 3).